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Department of Education is 94 Percent Non-Essential Employees

The federal government is now into its second day of being shut down, which means different things for different people. For the average American, not much is going to change. However, there is one governmental department which touches many (too many, some would argue) lives: The Department of Education. The question is will a government shutdown really make a difference to the majority of American families who have school age children?

The answer to that partially depends on how long the government remains closed for business. Programs like Race to the Top and Promise Neighborhoods are funded through the end of the year. They are safe unless the government remains shut down past then, which is virtually impossible. Head Start programs have been cut around the country, as it is a federal program, and it’s possible more will be cut as the shutdown goes on.

Cuts have extended beyond those programs as well, however. Last week, the Department of Education released a contingency plan. K-12 school districts will still be paid through the first week of October with grants that have already been appropriated, but funding past that point is uncertain. In the meantime, 94 percent of Department of Education employees have been furloughed. Some could be called back next week, but that number is unlikely to exceed 6 percent of total staff.

That’s right, 94 percent of Department of Education employees are deemed non-essential, as education is (thankfully, for now) administered mostly at the state and local level. If you’re running a business that doesn’t require 94% of its employees in order to function properly, wouldn’t it be time to rethink the way you’re doing things? Time for the government to do the same starting, perhaps, with those involved in educating the nation's children.

CLOSE THE DEPT. OF EDUCATION. THEY HAVE TWO ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1) TAKE MONEY FROM STATES CALLED SCHOOL TAXES TO BUY VOTES RESULTING IN
HIGHER TAXES AND SCHOOLS WITH NO MONEY FOR THINGS LIKE BOOKS

2) LOWER TEST SCORES, CHILDREN THAT KNOW ONLY DISTORTED LIBERAL
HISTORY AND LIES. WE ARE RACING TO THE BE THE LOWEST SCORING NATION FROM THE HIGHEST SCORING NATION. DEMOCRATS THINK THAT IS WONDERFUL AS FOOLS ARE EASIER TO CONTROL.

The more I learn about Common Core, the more I am reminded that the federal government fails at managing… anything. These uniform national curriculum standards are bad for students, teachers, parents, taxpayers, and really, society as a whole. The federal takeover of education needs to be immediately reversed for the sake of our future prosperity.

In Los Angeles, there’s an unusual fight over Common Core. This fight is about testing before implementation. Although it is set to be implemented in the 2014-15 school year, a proposed bill (AB 484) was supposed to have their standardized testing align with those standards this year.

Peyton and Eric never thought they would be homeschool parents. Having both been educated in traditional public schools, Peyton had some common misconceptions about homeschooling. In fact, she says she never entertained the idea of homeschooling because "I didn't want my kids to be dumb.”

Parents should be cautious about that to which their kids are exposed, especially in an environment where parental supervision isn't present. At home, television channels can be blocked, web content can be monitored, and most parents are hopefully keeping track of what their kids are reading. However, a lot of parents don’t apply this scrutiny to textbooks being used in the local schools. When one considers what is happening with textbook standards under Common Core, it’s time for that to change.

Of all the educational atrocities that have come to pass since our country’s infancy, the most tragic of all occurred when we took the focus off of the individual. The Founders believed that every individual citizen, no matter their circumstance, could become whatever they wanted if they were willing to work for it

Here at FreedomWorks, we….well, we know that freedom works. We know that, if the federal government would leave us alone and let market forces work, the American people would flourish and thrive. Whether it's the NSA revelations, the IRS scandal, or the imposing takeover of our health care system, Americans are seeing a grand expansion of federal control.

Something is seriously wrong with our education system. But before we can prescribe any cures we must understand the ailment. Our education problems are too big for sound bites. The system’s faults are too complex for mere political rhetoric.As such, I will be writing a few different blog posts to explain what exactly went wrong with our education system.

Educational shifts are happening all around America. A new report from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) shows that parents are looking for alternatives to state-led public education, and are shifting towards more traditional methods to educate their children.